[IP] The Power of Nightmares
Begin forwarded message:
From: Andy Duff <andy.duff@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: November 4, 2004 11:15:56 AM EST
To: "David Farber (E-mail)" <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: The Power of Nightmares
Dave
[For IP if you wish]
The BBC has just shown the last programme of a three-part documentary
entitled "The Power of Nightmares", which was nothing if not
provocative, drawing parallels between the use of fear to engage
support by the Neo-Cons in the US and Al Qaida.
Programme maker Adam Curtis contends that: "the nightmare vision of a
uniquely powerful hidden organisation waiting to strike our societies
is an illusion... [...] the reason that no-one questions the illusion
is because this nightmare enemy gives so many groups new power and
influence in a cynical age - and not just politicians. [...] Those with
the darkest imaginations have now become the most powerful."
There was a preview in the UK newspaper The Guardian on 15 Oct here
that summarises some of the pre-programme controversy:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html
(excerpt below). I've also included links to the BBC's own summaries.
Excerpt:
<<Since September 11 Britain has been warned of the 'inevitability' of
catastrophic terrorist attack. But has the danger been exaggerated? A
major new TV documentary claims that the perceived threat is a
politically driven fantasy - and al-Qaida a dark illusion. [...]
Terrorism, by definition, depends on an element of bluff. [...] "The
grand concept of the war has not succeeded," says Jonathan Eyal,
director of the British military thinktank the Royal United Services
Institute. "In purely military terms, it has been an inconclusive war
... a rather haphazard operation. Al-Qaida managed the most spectacular
attack, but clearly it is also being sustained by the way that we
rather cavalierly stick the name al-Qaida on Iraq, Indonesia, the
Philippines. There is a long tradition that if you divert all your
resources to a threat, then you exaggerate it.">>
The programme also included perspectives at the philosophies of Leo
Strauss at the University of Chicago in the 50s (and a strong influence
on Wolfowitz) and Sayyid Qutb, the Islamist philosopher (a strong
influence on Al Zawahiri who has bastardised Qutb's teaching).
The BBC's own summaries are at:
Programme 1: "Baby it's cold outside"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/3755686.stm
Programme 2: "The Phantom Victory"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/3951615.stm
Programme 3: "The Shadows in the cave:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/3970901.stm
Cheers
Andy Duff
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